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Thesis (M.A.)--University of Montana, 2008. / Title from title screen. Description based on contents viewed Oct. 7, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 94-95).

The purpose of this paper was to prove that the Fabians were a political pressure group and that Fabian methods were responsible for the enactment of the 1902 Education Act that nationalized education in England. Also that Sidney Webb played far greater and more significant part in the formulation of the actual Bill than did Robert Morant, who is usually credited as the person responsible for the Bill. It seemed to me that it was necessary to trace the evolving educational system in England; therefore, I made the arbitrary decision of beginning with the “Sunday school” which I view as the beginning of "education for all.” It was necessary to select the elements of the social and political affairs that I felt pertained to the subject as I dealt with it. There are situations that have been omitted, and there were times when it was difficult not to digress into areas of lesser significance. Therefore, the paper is divided into two sections: the first section traces the historical pattern of the emergence of education for the common people; the second section is devoted to the active involvement of the Fabians and covers a much shorter span historically. The first part of the paper traces the dual system of education that consisted of the “board” schools, which date from 1870, and the “voluntary” schools. Although the “voluntary” schools are as old as the Christian Church in England, the development of the “voluntary " system for the purpose of this paper, begins at the time of the Wesleyan rift with the Church of England. It was from that time that the voluntary schools developed into “denominational” schools and as a consequence, reflect the power struggle that developed between the landed gentry and the entrepreneurs as a result of industrialization. Throughout the nineteenth century, the ever extending franchise brought with it an increasing demand for change in the educational system in England. The second part of this paper deals with the manner in which the Fabians, as a pressure group, influenced the enactment of the 1902 Education Act. It is my thesis that the basic structure of the act was outlined originally by Sidney Webb and that Fabian Tract No. 106 was the primary model used by the Conservative government in formulating the Bill. Inasmuch as the educational system of England is still in the process of fulfilling the suggestions contained in the Act of 1902, perhaps from an historian's standpoint, it is too early to be definitive concerning the role of the Fabians. Nevertheless, enough material about the Fabians is available to prove their influence in securing the enactment of the Bill. Much more work needs to be done on the Fabians. They were a remarkable group of men and women whose impact in my judgment, is far greater than we are able, at present, to measure. Party politics are of recent origin and the Fabians belong to what some political scientists have termed the “third house” in the legislative process. The Fabians are a pressure group and the activity they carried on in regard to the Education Act, in my view, was a form of lobbying. It is from this viewpoint that I have dealt with the Fabians in this paper.

In recent years the rural enterprise has become a key theme in small business research. Despite an extensive and increasingly sophisticated literature analysing rural firms, the research effort has largely excluded agnculture. This exclusion reflects a wider separation of agriculture and industry which is apparent not only in scholarship, but in the political, social and economic institutions which surround the farm sector. Although there have been persuasive arguments for a more multi-disciplinary approach to the analysis of rurality and calls for comparisons to be drawn between farms and other small businesses, few such attempts have been made and the analysis of rural business development remains charactensed by disciplinary polarity. This thesis seeks to redress this by analysing farms using conventional small business paradigms and methodologies. Three specific issues were examined: the extent to which farms conform to small business norms; the engagement of farms in additional business activities; and the differences between farms undertaking additional business activities and those maintaining monoactive approaches. The results reveal similarities between farms and other rural enterpnses and demonstrate the continued importance of farms as creators of employment and wealth in rural areas Importantly, farms are shown to have a hitherto, unrecognized role in accommodating and fostenng rural small firms in non-farm sectors. The study supports the view that multiple business ownership activities may have been under-reported in the small business research literature. Tins analysis suggests that additional business activities are best viewed as a continuum, from the diversification of existing assets to the establishment of independent and separately registered firms. Policy liberalization, demand side changes and shifts in the demographic profile of farm owners are expected to increase the number of faims engaging in additional business activities. These factors are also expected to increase the smulanties between farms and other rural enterprises. The thesis concludes that there are benefits to be gamed from the inclusion of the farm sector in small business analyses. The sector is dominated by family owned, small businesses that have largely survived the transition through generations. As such, the sector offers small business researchers a unique opportunity to analyse issues at the centre of small business debate Moreover, it is argued that a small business approach to the analysis of the farm sector offers a particularly relevant, but hitherto absent, insight into the future development of rural areas.

What is sustainability and how do we measure it? Sustainability could be achieved through sustainable development and much of the literature on sustainable development has taken human well-being to be the object to be sustained. By constructing a very large and extensive National Accounts consistent database, this study develops an original set of UK wealth accounts for 25 years – 1988 to 2012 – to measure UK sustainability. While doing so, this research calculates the monetary value of UK natural capital and human capital which is then added into produced capital to develop a first comprehensive wealth account for the UK. This thesis argues that both wealth accounting approaches - "top-down" and "bottom-up" - are conceptually the same. They only differ empirically because of the methodologies employed to calculate natural capital, human capital and total wealth. This thesis shows how these both approaches can be combined together to measure UK sustainability. This study concludes that since 2007 UK is not on a sustainable path. Despite a positive genuine savings, since 2007 UK wealth has a negative growth rate and wealth per capita is in decline. A positive genuine savings with a fall in wealth per capita shows that UK savings has not been sufficient to compensate for a fall in wealth and population growth. In order to reverse the trend, either UK has to reduce its population growth or it needs to reinvest in its capital asset bases. This thesis argues that an increase in population does not always decrease per capita wealth because an increase in population driven by a skilled work force increases the value of human capital and thus total wealth. This increase in wealth could offset an increase in population keeping per capita wealth intact. Furthermore, for UK, which is not a resource rich country, investment in human capital is needed to increase the rate of wealth growth.

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